Another anti-diamond film set to air

New Horizons

If there were any doubts that Los Angeles’ pop-culture merchants had the world’s diamond industry in its crosshairs with the release of Leonardo DiCaprio’s anti-diamond film Blood Diamond, they were laid to rest this week when American TV network VH1 announced that it would air a “Rock Doc” titled Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds and Hip Hop.

The documentary’s original title was Bling: A Planet Rock.

VH1 says the new documentary will take a “hard-hitting look” at the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and chronicle a journey to the country by members of America’s “diamond-obsessed” hip hop music scene.

The musicians — Houston, Tex.-based Paul Wall, and Raekon, part of the Wu Tang Clan, as well as Puerto Rican artist Tego Calderon — travelled to war-weary Sierra Leone as part of a United Nations-sponsored visit (the UN also helped fund the film).

The trio soon realized, however, that they may have “unintentionally played a role” in the country’s illicit diamond trade by buying diamonds as part of their respective collections of “bling,” hip hop slang meaning expensive jewellery.

Another one of the film’s stars, hip hop icon Kanye West, released a song in 2005 called Diamonds Remix, about a man who had his arms severed for refusing to mine diamonds in Sierra Leone.

West is joined in the documentary by hip hoppers Big Daddy Kane, Jadakiss, Juelz Santana, Chris Aire, and tough guy Mr. T.

VH1 says that along with insight from these folks, the film cuts to testimonials on blood diamonds, and offers factoids and graphic images of those directly affected by the diamond trade.

VH1 hopes that the film will “capture hip hop’s reaction to the human violations, bring global awareness to this issue, and educate Americans about how they can play a role in eradicating the smuggling of blood diamonds and become conscious consumers.”